by K. R. Smith
“You walked home from school in a blizzard?” Vine looked on in sympathy.
“Not really.” I squirmed uneasily at having been dragged into another round of their sparring. “I didn’t make it to the hill coz I couldn’t see properly. When the wind nearly blew me over, I went to Derik’s where Dad found me.”
I spent that afternoon as I spent millions of afternoons, hanging out with my best friend. I recalled that day vividly; I had sat before a roaring fire and Aunt Susan made hot chocolates complete with marshmallows for the kids. We three drank up as we listened to her try to scare us with tales of ‘Urban Legends’ she grew up with, whilst the gale-force winds howled outside. Such stories of alligators in sewers or escaped killers from mental asylums, barely raised an eyebrow from a teenaged European Werewolf.
“That’s not scary!” Declan said as his chest filled out with arrogant pride. “If that psycho-killer caught sight of me as a European Werewolf, he would have turned and run back to the asylum!”
“You’re not scary.” I pronounced, as I looked on the tall, muscled, supernatural 15 year old in human form.
“I’m not scary, huh?” He smirked as he switched his human blue eyes into their glowing green Werewolf ones, with his circular pupils turning into thin, black slits. Then he chuckled when I shuddered and looked away.
As I reminisced on what happened years ago, I started to become aware that a lull had fallen on the conversation. Mum looked guilty with Dad rubbing her shoulders and all of the Elm’s except Grant, now looked uncomfortable. Maybe I shouldn’t have said Derik’s name? I think they all thought that we had been this big romance or something.
“So anyway,” I added on hastily, “Dad picked me up on his way home from work. It’s no biggie because I lived, didn’t I?”
“Lucky for me.” Grant picked up my hand to kiss it.
*****
Our new house fell quiet once all of the guests had left. Upon their departure, they left us with our many ‘wedding presents’, in furniture and household goods.
My new home was decorated in the typical country-style of mostly pine furniture thanks to the ample trees in the surrounding woods. Our new pine dining table and chairs sat in the dining area and the pine coffee table sat in between two second-hand, green and white checkered couches near the stone fireplace. There was a red rug on the lounge room floor and in the main bedroom upstairs along with home-made curtains of a red and green checkered material, on our windows thanks to Vine, Hannah and even Aunt Julienne.
So far our new home looked a little spartan, but nothing that a few photographs or trinkets couldn’t fix. The Worthall’s had kindly brought a couple of boxes of antique ornaments or gilt-edged photo frames from Blythe Castle which were still unpacked. Even my Australian relatives brought with them a couple of knick-knacks as well as the token jar of Vegemite.
I pottered around, picking up the last of the rubbish and the errant plate or glass, as Grant stood at the kitchen sink, washing up.
“Today went well.” He made small talk as I placed the items on the sink.
“Ah yeah, it did.” I said back. Then I caught him look me up and down once again. I wondered why he kept doing that? “What?”
“What?” he looked back at my face.
“What’s wrong?” I queried.
“Nothing, you look very nice in that dress that’s all.”
“Oh, thanks.” I said awkwardly as this was the third time that he’s said that.
I walked out of the kitchen and went up the stairs to our bedroom. There I changed into my blue coloured flannel pajamas, which had cartoon flying elephants over them. Lastly, I used the bathroom to clean my teeth.
The staircase creaked, indicating Grant was coming. He too came into the bathroom as he grabbed his toothbrush and the toothpaste. I moved aside to give him room, feeling weird about how casually he waltzed in instead of waiting for me to finish. As he brushed his teeth, he looked me up and down as I was standing there in my pajamas. The intensity of his gaze made me feel uncomfortable.
“Are you right there?” I spoke with a mouthful of foam.
“Huh?” he inquired.
I didn’t care to reiterate, so I let it go. I spat out the toothpaste before I rinsed my mouth and the toothbrush with water. I brushed past as I left the bathroom to head back into the bedroom. I was putting my lip gloss on when he came in. He walked up behind to place his hands on my shoulders when I jumped in fright!
“Sorry.” He moved his warm hands down my arms. “Man, you sure are jumpy.”
“Er yeah, I guess.” I placed the lip gloss back on top of the bedside table.
“I would say, ‘I won’t bite I promise’ but with our kind it’s a given.” He joked.
“Uh huh.” I said uneasily as I was unable to look his way.
I proceeded to pull the covers back on the bed to climb in, when Grant turned me around so I was facing him.
“B.” He said softly as I nervously looked up into his expectant face, but then I had to look away again. He tried to hold my gaze, “it’s actually pretty easy what we have to do and usually quite enjoyable too.”
I couldn’t reply as I didn’t know what to say. My heart was racing and I felt like I was trembling like a leaf, which Grant noticed too. I think he must have thought I was cold though, because he began to rub my arms as if to warm them.
He leaned in to kiss me softly on the lips…he tasted like toothpaste and I guess so did I. Then he released me for a moment to pull off his shirt and his t-shirt, so that he was now topless before he leaned in to kiss for longer. He was muscled, almost as much as Declan, I guess like any Werewolf was. Just part and parcel for being part animal I suppose?
His lips gently pushed apart mine, as he eased his tongue inside of my mouth which reminded me too much of Declan doing this very thing only a day or so ago.
“I’m sorry…!” I pulled away with my face burning up. “I’m sorry…!”
“It’s OK.” He said gently but he didn’t move away. “We can go more slowly if you like.”
“No.” I shook my head as I hid my face in my hands. “I’m sorry Grant, but I don’t think I can do this.”
“It’s fine, B.” He removed my hands. “It’s natural to be nervous for our first time together.”
“No!” I said more strongly this time. “I don’t think there can be a first time.”
“Because you’re thinking of another?” He guessed.
This was it, this was the deal breaker…
“Yes!” I grew tearful.
“Listen B, I’m aware that if you had remained human you would be doing this with somebody else.” Grant said evenly. “But since circumstances have changed and even though this hasn’t turned out the way either of us had expected? I think we can make a go at this.”
“You see? There you go!” I said quickly. “You didn’t want this and I didn’t want this so we shouldn’t do this.”
“I’m not saying that.”
“But -”
“I’m a Lokoti Werewolf and you are a Lokoti Werewolf. You’re pretty and you smell good and I’m fairly sure that I’m not repulsive to you either. Just try to relax and enjoy the moment.” He said lightly.
When he leaned in to kiss my neck, I heard him inhale my scent deeply. He wrapped his arms about my waist to hold me against his hardening form. His mouth traveled down to my collar bone, as he pushed aside my pajama collar to kiss my left shoulder.
Oh oh…that felt good! I struggled to hold onto my composure and not become swept up in the moment. I was also trying hard not to imagine doing this with a certain other person instead.
“Fine,” I swallowed, “but perhaps we could maybe work our way towards this? You know, by using your ‘move slowly’ suggestion and do this bit by bit each night…?”
He paused to look back. “We have three days before the next full moon. We need to be mates before then so we can be prepared.”
“But um, aren’t we mates now?” I g
ulped as he began to unbutton my pajama shirt.
He craned his head lower to work his lips down to my breasts whilst gently leaning me backwards. “Nah ah.”
“But we’re living together…?” I shook harder when his mouth took in my left nipple.
“We’re not mates yet.” He shook his head as his open mouth moved across to my right breast.
“When will we be mates?”
“Trust me, you’ll know.” His voice dropped an octave as he look up with lust in his eyes.
Grant lifted me up in his arms before he fell onto the bed with me underneath.
“You’re getting into the swing of things…!” my eyes widened in further surprise as he pushed open my shirt to give himself free access.
“Ah ha.” He scraped his sharpening teeth over my navel.
He began to turn as I picked up the soft growls being emitted which excited me even more!
“Mmmmrrrrrrrr!” A growl crept up out of my throat! Embarrassed, I quickly put the both of my hands over my mouth to silence myself.
Grant looked back with glowing silver eyes and he smiled with his sharp, elongated teeth.
“Don’t hold back on my account.” He spoke in his deep Lokoti Werewolf voice which was like rumbling thunder.
Then whilst holding my gaze, he used his claw-like hands to pull down my pajama pants, spread apart my legs and he went down on me!
“MMMRRRRAAAWWW!” a roar came up, out of my chest!
I could feel my mouth tingle as my teeth grew longer and sharper whilst my back buckled in pleasure. I felt my body heat up in both ecstasy and in excess muscle bulk. I lifted up my hands to see my nails turn long and sharp. When I turned my head to catch sight of my reflection in the mirror on the dresser, I saw my glowing turquoise eyes look back…
Oh shit! Oh no! I’m turning! My fear was as great as was the urge to toss him onto his back and pounce on him!
“Oh no - oh no - I’ve changed - I’ve changed!” I growled out in my different voice which was thunderous as his. I sat upright as I grabbed him by the hair, to catch his attention.
“And do you want to eat human?” He asked in his rumbling tone.
“No, I want to eat you instead!” I tugged on his hair to pull him closer.
“Good.” He pushed me back down with himself on top.
I tried to roll out from under, but just as I managed to sit on top, Grant flipped me over to pin me underneath. As we wrestled, we clawed and bit into each other. I don’t know why, but it seemed really important that I tasted his blood and it seemed like it was the same for him. We both left deep, bloodied teeth marks in each other’s shoulders.
As my ecstasy grew, I realized that amongst all of this growling, biting and clawing, he was managing to shag me as well. He was doing a pretty good job of it too, as I certainly wasn’t lying still in my frenzy. Our sheets were victimized as they were accidentally shredded from our claws. This mating behavior went a little longer than I expected it to, as Grant was showing no sign of tiring, even when he came which happened several times.
Was this normal? Well I guess that was a stupid question, of course this wasn’t normal! We’re frickin’ Werewolves for crying out loud! If a human just happened to accidentally walk in on us, they would probably run screaming from our house. So I guess what I meant to say, was this normal behavior for Lokoti Werewolves?
When I was with Declan it was wham bam thank you ma’am, with a couple of insults thrown in and a “don’t tell my brother about this”. Now here I was, with my husband or mate or whatever you wanted to call him… mating with him?
“Are we mates now?” I growled out as I grabbed hold of his hair once again.
“We’re getting there.” He growled back as he removed my hand.
*****
Two hours later, I lay as a tired human being in the arms of another tired human being, amongst torn linen with even my pillow case having a couple of holes in the shape of bite marks. I started spluttering and Grant chuckled as he watched me remove a piece of yellow cotton from my teeth; the same yellow cotton that the pillow case was made from.
“Great Grandma’s gonna kill me when she sees what’s happened to her wedding present of the bedding!” I momentarily raised my head to survey the damage.
“Not if I sew it all up before she sees it.” He held me closely.
“You know how to sew?” I remembered Hannah saying something as such.
“It’s a requirement of going through the change…” he said casually, “…I went through quite a lot of clothing when I accidentally turned before undressing.”
“Yeah, I tore my favourite top the first night I changed,” I sighed, “and my sneakers and my socks were K.I.A.”
“You looked pretty hot, running through the woods in your bra and jeans.” He snickered.
“Oh shut up!” I put my hands over my face as I rolled onto my back, embarrassed.
“Why do you think I didn’t mind the idea of marrying you?” Grant grinned as he kissed the bite mark on my right shoulder. The mark which was already half healed, as was his.
“So what happens now?” I asked softly, looking back into his dark brown eyes.
He gazed for a while into my dark blue ones, before he replied. “We’re mates, Bianca. We hunt together and we sleep together and we live happily ever after.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 9
New Chapter
~ 9 ~
7th October 2084
For the first three days of marriage leading up the full moon, I found my new husband’s behavior surprising. He was still extremely nice and polite and he even acted overprotective sometimes. He threw himself into our marriage with gusto while I myself dawdled.
When we began to set up the greenhouse, he insisted on carrying anything that looked remotely heavy, even though we both knew my Werewolf strength almost matched his physical prowess. He quickly found out what music I liked, which was similar to the music he liked. He would set up his iPod with mini-speakers in the greenhouse for us to listen to as we worked.
For the first two nights Grant insisted on cooking for us, which was basically warming up left-overs from our Housewarming in the microwave. He had this strange idea that I had never cooked before? I had to explain to him that it was thanks to all the cooking lessons I had with my Great Grandma, whenever she looked after me over the years.
He also started out by doing ALL of the housework, also under the misinformation that I didn’t know how to do this either. But I showed him I certainly knew how to vacuum a house or mop the kitchen and bathroom floors. I even corrected him when he was doing the washing on when to put in the laundry softener.
“Oh.” He looked on impressed that I stopped the machine in time.
“See?” I pointed out on the controls. “It’s the last rinse cycle.”
“Right!” he bashfully laughed. “I knew that!”
However what particularly surprised me about Grant, was how he acted like he couldn’t get enough of the physical side of our marriage. I have to admit, it started to cause me some concern. Consummating the marriage bed could go for hours and don’t get me wrong, it was pleasurable. But he started to expect more and more.
What I mean is for the first three nights, we’d have dinner and afterwards we’d read or watch a DVD. Then we’d brush our teeth and lastly go to bed. But it got to the stage where I no longer bothered to put on my pajamas, because I knew that they weren’t going to stay on.
On the third night, as he washed the dishes and I dried and put them away; half way through the washing up he stopped to start to kiss my neck.
“Mmm…you smell better than Hannah’s choc chip cookies that she bakes.” He said hungrily.
“Er, Grant? What about the washing up?” I laughed uneasily.
“Who cares about the washing up? I want to wash you up!” he growled, tossing aside my tea towel.
“Grant!” I objected when I saw it
land in the hot, soapy water.
“Oh B…!” he dropped to the kitchen floor and pulled me down with him.
I remember lying there, staring up at the fluorescent kitchen light, feeling ravaged. I also felt a mass of conflicting emotions that were raging inside…
Half of me was on the side of the ‘Pro Grant’ party. This voice reminded me in an authoritative manner, ‘Grant is your mate as you married him for your tribe. You have a responsibility to fulfill. He’s a nice guy and you could be in a worse situation than this.’ The other half kicked and screamed and swore, ‘kick him off you! Leave this guy! Run away and never come back! Run away with Declan! Derik already lost you to Grant so what if you run away with his brother instead?’
However the good side won as it usually did, by Grant managing to stir my desires. Slowly but eventually, I could finally lose myself in the moment as relief washed over me whilst I started to connect with my husband. There, you said it - your husband. You’re frickin’ married Bianca, now get used to it!
Afterwards, I lay on top with the both of us half undressed, still on the kitchen floor.
My husband surprised me again when out of the blue he blurted out, “sometimes it feels like there’s a war being raged inside of you.”
Inwardly I cringed but I managed to swallow before I forced out, “what do you mean?”
He was quiet for a moment before he sighed, “it feels like you’re holding back because you’re not completely letting me in.”
With him saying this, I realized that I was an idiot for underestimating Grant and for telling myself that he wouldn’t notice. Now I felt wretched with guilt and I said quietly, “I guess that makes me a bad person, doesn’t it?”
“B…”
I rolled off as I quickly got up and went upstairs for a shower.
My guilt turned into anger as I stood under the scalding hot water. I tried to scrub away my past transgressions as I washed off the day’s grime. His words made me angrier and angrier which made me scrub harder and harder with the loofa. I mean, what does he expect? We’re an arranged marriage! Does he expect me to turn all goo-goo over him, overnight? He knew there was somebody in my past…albeit it wasn’t the person he was thinking of, but still.
